


Snapped Strings

by aruhime



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Drabble, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aruhime/pseuds/aruhime
Summary: It was a common knowledge that whenever one's marionette's strings were snapped, it was a bad omen. It was a widely known old curse. A good puppeteer would rather cracked their bones; it was always the dolls first, the human came later.One of Minghao's doll's string was destroyed, it was his biggest doll, too. But what scared Mingyu more was Minghao's rather nonchalant approach about this.
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Kudos: 14





	Snapped Strings

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my drabble piece submitted to [@svtfearxchange's Monthly Fear Challenge](https://twitter.com/svtfearxchange/status/1299172533120282624?s=20)'s October prompt. This is written for day 6th prompt: marionette, and day 13th prompt: ancient!

It was a common knowledge that whenever one's marionette's strings were snapped, it was a bad omen. It was a widely known old curse. A good puppeteer would rather cracked their bones; it was always the dolls first, the human came later.

One of Minghao's doll's string was destroyed, it was his biggest doll, too. But what scared Mingyu more was Minghao's rather nonchalant approach about this.

"I can always fix that,"

"Yes, but think about the consequences you have to face—"

"Ssh, Mingyu," Minghao made a silence gesture with his doll's "healthy" hand. "I can fix this. Don't worry."

If only Mingyu was a bad person, he would laugh and walk away when Minghao found a bloody, dead pigeon on his front door on the next morning. Instead, Mingyu was horrified, but he didn't miss the chance to accuse Minghao's ignorance.

"I'm supposed to be a puppeteer, Gyu. Not a witch." Minghao said tiredly, gazing at the bloodstain. " _You_ are the witch. Do you mind helping me magic those blood away, please?"

Mingyu did, but the dead pigeons didn't stop for another week. If anything, it was only the beginning.

: : :

Minghao groaned at the thirteenth dead pigeons on his front door—and odd-shaped stones, and several scented letters without any lines inside, and a freaked out Mingyu.

"I told you," he grimaced when he magic it away, all of them. "I _told_ you."

"But I already repaired the doll, didn't I? And it's even better than before!"

Mingyu huffed. Yes, Minghao did. Mingyu helped him with that several days ago, and they genuinely hoped that this 'threat'—whatever this was called—would stop eventually. It didn't. They didn't know what was wrong.

"Don't we like, I don't know, get a lesson about this?" Minghao rummaged his bag, looking for his small leathered notebook. It was a unique one, it looked thin but the pages were infinite. Minghao kept a ton of spell work and his doll's care inside, alphabetized.

"I think we do."

"When?"

"We have a different class for this, Minghao."

"Oh, right."

Even though he kept the notebook ordered by alphabet, it still took Minghao a long time to find anything about snapping a marionette's string. He found it eventually, a small corner under 'Marionette Care' section in his book. It said,

"Like you said, Mingyu, it's an old curse, even dated back before the wooden dolls are created. It's—Mingyu, are you listening?"

Mingyu didn't answer, because he wasn't there.

"Mingyu?"

**Author's Note:**

> (I am so tempted to continue this as an actual fic lmaoooo let's see...)  
> Come and yell about them with me in my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/aruhxme) or [twitter!](https://twitter.com/chaniiro)


End file.
